This is a post where you will act as a role model for staff and students, with a commitment to raising standards and ensuring the progress of all our students is outstanding.

Kingsdown is a dynamic school. It is transforming the life chances of our students, our community and our town.  Our teams have been exceptional and continue to champion each and every student.  Our students have been brilliant too - they have come on this journey with us - as have their parents.  They have all modelled our Kingsdown BEATs.  Kingsdown in Swindon is now regarded as the “school of choice”.

What are we looking for in our new Head of Department - Drama:

We are looking for an intelligent, hardworking, creative, ambitious and well researched professional who will never back away from a challenge, who is not afraid of hard work and who loves identifying and removing barriers and thereby making a difference.  We are looking for someone who will raise standards of student attainment and achievement for all year groups within the department and to monitor and support student progress through the development of the curriculum.

 You will learn more about our Wheel of Excellence from our website and when you visit. Do please take a look at our website kingsdownschool.co.uk.

What will and can we offer you:

By joining our Kingsdown family you will join a team who genuinely cares and champions each and every student and each and every member of the Kingsdown team.

 At Kingsdown, we know that staff and students thrive in a ‘healthy work culture’ and the wellbeing of staff and student outcomes is inextricably linked.  We are committed to providing the best working and learning environment for all.  The RLT has a staff charter and strong values, we uphold these values and commitments, and further build on these with our Wellbeing Strategy.  

 One of the core values of the RLT is that ‘everyone is learning’ and at Kingsdown we ensure each person has the personalised CPLD that they deserve. We do this through a variety of programmes, including our Restless Teacher Programme that allows all staff to take a lead on their own professional development, with the support of colleagues within the school. We are also very excited to be launching our coaching model this year, to allow staff the opportunity to be coached and develop their teaching practice further, whatever stage of their career they are in.  High quality CPLD and training are an integral part of our meeting schedule and time is given to curriculum teams to collaborate and learn from each other.  Alongside this we have a personalised induction programme that allows for new staff members to join us feeling supported and welcomed from day one.  All ECTs have time with their mentors each week and with our team of Professional tutors. 

 Education has the power to change lives, communities and society for the better. At RLT we believe that we can achieve more for our pupils, trainees, staff and communities by working together rather than alone. Schools in RLT are united by a common belief in the benefits of working together, and by our commitment to shared principles.

OUR VISION is for our schools and SCITT to improve rapidly, continuously and sustainably: to be better faster together.

OUR ‘WHY?’ is that children and young people ‘only get one go’ in school and therefore as part of RLT we aim to ensure the best possible ‘go’ for our pupils.

OUR ‘HOW?’ is through the highest support and challenge for our schools and each other, underpinned by our principles.

Our employees benefit from a wide variety of support including extensive continuing professional learning and development opportunities, wellbeing and staff networks and access to Defined Benefit Pension Schemes (TPS and LGPS) for all staff. For more information on what it is like to work for the Trust, and the benefits you could access, please see our “Working in RLT” guide.

 This role includes regulated activity relevant to children.

The River Learning Trust and Kingsdown School are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and preventing extremism. The Trust is required to conduct a variety of checks and online searches about you as part of their recruitment process in accordance with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. It is an offence to apply for certain roles within schools if you are barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children.

 For all RLT Safer Recruitment Documentation candidates should click on the following link RLT Safer Recruitment Documents for Candidates

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020. For further guidance for applicants click on this link List of offences that are not filtered